Pacific Equity Partners and Blum Capital eye Xtralis exit

The firms have hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch to manage the sale process, which won’t begin until the last quarter of 2013, said the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter.

Pacific bought Xtralis in February 2006, at which time the Irish company had an enterprise value if $233m. This was followed by an investment from Blum four years later.

Xtralis has since made three bolt-on deals including the acquisition of electronic security system company VSK Group for $49m in 2007. The company’s clients include McDonald’s, Volkswagen and Microsoft.

Earlier this year Pacific Equity Partners and Asian private equity firm Unitas were sued by beer maker Asahi over allegations the pair inflated the earnings of Independent Liquor, the drinks company it bought from the firms in 2011.